Robert F. Kennedy Junior, the best health official in the country, has an unconventional idea to treat American poultry farms. Let the virus torn.
Instead of executing birds when detecting the infection, farmers must think about the possibility of leaving them through the herd so that we can identify birds and keep the birds that you fortify, ”Mr. Kennedy recently said on Fox News.
He repeated the idea in Other interviews On the channel.
Mr. Kennedy has no specialty on farms. But Brock Rollins, Minister of Agriculture, expressed his support for the concept.
“There are some farmers who are ready to truly try it on a pilot and we are building the safe ocean around them to see if there is a way to move forward in immunity,” Ms. Rollins told Fox News last month.
However, veterinarians said that allowing viruses to survey through poultry herds without a deterrent will be inhuman and dangerous, and has huge economic consequences.
“This is a truly terrible idea, for any of the reasons,” said Dr. Jill Hansen, the former veterinarian in Kansas.
Since January 2022, there have been more than 1,600 outbreaks reported on farms and rear -sized groups, which occur in every state. More than 166 million birds were affected.
Each infection is another chance of the virus, called H5N1, to develop into a more fierce shape. Genetic scientists were closely following their mutations; So far, the virus has not developed the ability to spread among people.
But if H5N1 is allowed to run through a flock of five million birds, “This is literally five million opportunities for this virus to repeat or transform,” said Dr. Hansen.
Large numbers of infected birds are likely to transmit huge amounts of virus, exposing farm workers and other animals a major risk.
“Now you put yourself for bad things,” said Dr. Hansen. “It is a recipe for disaster.”
Emily Helerad, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services, said that the comments of Mr. Kennedy aim to protect people “from the most dangerous version of the current bird flu, which are found in chicken.”
“Culling exposes people to the highest danger of exposure, and for this reason, Secretary Kennedy and NIH wants to reduce execution activities,” she said, referring to the national health institutes. “The execution is not the solution.
In her plan to combat bird flu, Mrs. Rollins recommended strengthening vital security on farms – Preventing the virus from entering Their places, or stop their spread with strict cleaning and use of protective equipment.
But this is a long -term solution. The US Department of Agriculture started these efforts in only ten states.
The virus root first between wild birds, which they moved to local poultry and different types of mammals. Now one infected duck may fall flying in the stool sky on the farm, as it may accommodate chicken or turkey.
Poultry is characterized by the weak immune system and is exposed to enormous environmental pressure, and is often packed together in wire cages or poor ventilation pens. Within one day, H5N1 can patients one third of a herd.
Infected birds can develop severe respiratory symptoms, diarrhea, tremors and sprain their necks, and produce distorted or fragile eggs. Many die breathing to breathe. (Some birds die suddenly without showing any symptoms at all.)
The speed of the affected birds was cited as one reason that officials believe that the eggs are safe for consumption. Most sick birds die before they can apply an egg, or to breastfeed so much that it is easy to filter.
Poultry farmers invite authorities once signs of disease or death are discovered. If the tests appear positive for bird flu, then they are Payment to kill the rest of the herd Before the virus spread any further.
“If farmers allow this to allow the virus to do on the farm,” these infections will cause very painful deaths in nearly 100 percent of chicken and turkey. “
The result will be “inhuman, which leads to an unacceptable animal care crisis.” (Ways to admire birds can also be harsh, but at least faster in general.)
Farmers who cancel the infected herds should clean buildings and overcome audits before storage. They are often keen to quickly solve the crisis. Simply retreat will have dangerous financial consequences.
The world of the US Department of Agriculture, which was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the strategy “means the longest quarantine, the most stoppage time, and more missing revenues and increased expenditures.”
Mr. Kennedy suggested that a branch of poultry may be naturally immune from bird flu. Experts said that chicken and Roman roosters lack the genes needed to resist the virus.
“The way we raise birds now, there is not much genetic variation,” said Dr. Hansen. “They are all the same birds, mainly.”
Public health regulations will prohibit very few birds that you may survive. However, these birds may be only protected against the current version of H5N1, and not other importance with the continued development in the virus.
“Biology and immunity do not work in this way,” said Dr. Keith Polsen, director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Wisconsin.
He added: “Leaving the virus is spreading without deterrent, which is likely to lead to a trade ban against poultry from the United States,” there is a great economic loss immediately. “
In one interview with Fox News, Mr. Kennedy also suggested that the virus “does not seem to hurt wild birds – they have a kind of immunity.”
In fact, while the ducks and coastal birds may not appear symptoms, H5N1 has killed neighboring, water birds, sandy hill cranes and snow geese, among many other types.